We are entering the Peak Oil era. The growth of oil production is slowing, forcing up oil and gasoline prices, firing inflation, driving unemployment, straining our global economy, and threatening to collapse our entire system. Teacher Aaron Wissner, highlights the impacts, underlying problem, and solutions. This is part 5 of 5 in a one-hour presentation. See the full one-hour video at LocalFuture.org. Also, at YouTube, see the summary with great resources, web sites, video clips, and detailed background on Peak Oil and its impacts.
Duration : 0:10:0
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Gas prices are rising, demand for oil is rising, and yet oil production stopped rising over three years ago. Peak oil may be here, and it’s taking us unprepared.
How long can this oil production level be maintained? When will the decline in oil supply begin? How will that impact already rising gasoline prices, oil prices, food prices and the struggling state of the world economy?
The International Conference on Peak Oil and Climate Change: Paths to Sustainability explores the root cause of rising gas prices, global warming, biodiversity loss and other indicators of global unsustainability.
With high powered, international speakers and authors including Richard Heinberg, Dr. David Goodstein, Megan Quinn Bachman, Julian Darley, Stephanie Mills and Pat Murphy, the uncertainties of energy and climate will be illuminated in this first-of-its-kind international conference.
The event begins with an in-depth scientifically-rigorous overview of the global issues of peak oil, climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and population growth and how these are impacting individuals, businesses, nations, the environment and the world.
Participants then focus on the concepts of sustainability and the associated value systems and cultural visions. A spectrum of breakout seminar presentations led by professionals and experts help individuals, businesses, governments and communities move towards a vision of local cultures of sustainability.
Join with a broad array of professionals, politicians, business leaders, and concerned citizens for this unique high-level international conference that explores the causes of global problems and proposes solutions to move humanity toward lasting paths of sustainability.
Duration : 0:0:25
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ANCHOR:
A number of respected petroleum geologists believe the peak of world oil supplies may be closer than you think, with in the next ten years. For each barrel of oil discover the world is consuming four. But on a brighter note, as our reporter Charlotte Cuthbertson discovers, there are initiatives set up that can help you and your family to make a smoother transition.
STORY:
Rising demand for oil has always been met by increased supply. But when global oil production reaches its peak in the not to distant future there will be shortages, much higher prices and increased international tension. So what does the peak oil crisis mean for you?
Now, you don’t have to trade your brand new Range Rover for a horse and cart just yet, but you can at least start warming up to the idea, as obvious things like transport, health care services and most importantly food production which rely heavily on oil, will all be affected.
There are also initiatives set up like Transition Towns which aim to guide communities into creating more low energy lifestyles.
[Juanita McKenzie, Transition Towns Volunteer]:
“I love the idea of building the resilience of community, we need some answers and peoples movements are the most powerful.”
About 300 towns around the world are actively working with the Transition town’s model.
But will there be enough time to build a sustainable infrastructure to carry us through this looming oil crisis?
[Samuel National Support for Transition Towns Movement New Zealand]:
“We have set a target of planting 20,000 fruit tree’s with in the next 10 years. We have identified a piece of public land. There will be 35 species of trees planted in that one area. That will help us to build resilience, rather than panic when the big trucks don’t arrive to fill us the Woolworths supermarket.”
There are some individuals out there who will not wait until the oil runs out and are instead taking steps to ensure their families will be well fed.
[Grange Gordon, Semi Self Sufficient Land Owner]:
“Great education for the kids, it’s a good footing for them to see what they can do. It’s good for them to see us their parents getting in there and digging in. It’s a family thing, it’s a collective thing. It’s about recycling it’s about not going to the supermarket, the plastic world. And fresh is best. Fresh is the ultimate. And anyone who eats home grown knows that the flavor is the way it’s supposed to be.”
So start growing your veggies, insulate your homes, get on your bikes, and we’ll race you to a more sustainable future. This is Charlotte Cuthbertson, NTD, Wellington, New Zealand.
Duration : 0:1:52
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manoftruth predicts future oil prices http://manoftruth.org/
Duration : 0:5:0
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There have been a lot of discussions about the high gas prices in USA the past months and what exactly should be done to curb this trend. Some politicians, like McCain, Bush, and Gingrich, are taking advantage of the situation and tries to push for the ending of a 27-year moratorium on offshore drilling along the coastlines of USA.
But offshore drilling is not a “quick fix” and it won’t help to lower the gas prices. The only ones that will profit from this are Bush and McCain’s friends in the oil industry. While people are suffering from the high gas prices the oil companies are reporting record profits after record profits.
“The United States burns 24 percent of the world’s oil, yet we only have 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves. Even if we drilled every drop of oil the U.S. has on shore or off its coasts, we will never be able to drill our way to lower oil prices or energy security. We simply burn more than we could ever drill.”
“Offshore oil drilling is not a short-term fix. It would take at least a decade to bring new leases into production. And, it will be years before exploration could begin and years after that before production would start. If any effect were to be felt on gas prices (most likely only a few pennies per gallon), that effect is decades away.”
“Offering up more of our coastline for drilling won’t lower gas prices. Since President Bush took office in 2000, the number of wells in federally leased areas has increased exponentially, yet gas prices have doubled during that same time. Yet, this type of evidence is never mentioned in the media or by proponents for offshore drilling.”
“Another reason that drilling for more oil in the U.S. won’t result in lower gas prices is because oil prices are set on the global oil market. What this means is that all oil produced around the world is sold all at the same price. There is no guarantee that we would even be using the oil that was drilled here in the U.S. And, we certainly wouldn’t get a discount just because we drilled for it on U.S. soil. We would pay the same rate as the rest of the world.”
[Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/offshore-drilling-it-s-not-t ]
The only things that will lower the fuel prices, create more jobs, solve the climate crisis and fix this fragile economy is to invest in clean renewable energy sources, setting strict mpg standards for all automobiles and transform our current society to a sustainable one.
Going green will fix many problems, one of them are high gas prices.
Duration : 0:2:24
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Gasoline gas prices are based on oil prices. Oil prices are determined by the oil supply and oil demand. Right now, both oil supply and oil demand are almost inelastic. As gasoline gas and oil prices go up, the demand stays almost the same. As the oil supply reaches peak oil or maximum production or extraction, the demand curve becomes vertical, or inelastic. The inelasticity of the oil supply and oil demand set things up for price volatility of both oil and gasoline. The seasonal changes in gas and oil prices we’ve seen in the last three years is probably due to reaching peak oil. This short screencast shows an inelastic oil supply curve, as well as an inelastic oil demand curve, and what happens to prices as the oil supply or oil demand change.
Duration : 0:1:16
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Our global economic system is dependent on a growing energy, and most importantly, oil supply.
Without growth in energy, the money supply can not grow (for long), which leads to a situation where the money supply stops growing, leading to economic recession.
When the USA hit its peak oil production in 1970, there were a series of economic impacts, including recession, abandoning the gold standand, high unemployment, and high inflation.
Global peak oil extraction appears to have happened in the 2005-2008 time frame, and had a large contributing effect on stressing the global economic system to the verge of collapse. The run up in gas gasoline prices during that same era impacted the economic system severely.
The US Government and many others have examined the global peak oil issue and have come to the sobering conclusion that severe economic impacts are inevitable, and we are unprepared.
Future oil prices may be driven up by the stagnant or declining supply, and then collapsing down as economic dislocation occurs.
This is the second part of a 30 minute talk by Aaron Wissner about our Local Future.
Duration : 0:10:5
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Hitting “peak oil” (and then riding it all the way down) is going to be the major event in our lives. It’s going to change everything about the way we do everything, and has the potential to completely decimate what we have come to know as “civilization”.
Duration : 0:8:16
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Features Richard Heinberg, Matthew Simmons, Roscoe Bartlett & David Goodstein
Oil is the primary fuel of the global economy. 98% of cars and trucks, 100% of farm equipment, 99% of trains, and 100% of airplanes run on oil. Oil provides 50% of all energy in the USA. It is used for plastics, cosmetics, packaging, etc.
Shell oil geologist M. King Hubbert predicted that U.S. oil production would peak around 1970, which it did.
Now, the USA consumes more than twice as much as it produces.
The GAO states that world oil production is expected to peak any time now but the federal government doesn’t have a plan.
Oil will continue to become more and more expensive as peak oil is passed and prices rise.
Duration : 0:4:24
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Peak oil is coming, but how can you be sure that it is actually going to happen? It only takes one fact to prove it: petroleum (oil) is a non-renewable limited resource.
Peak oil is the point in time when global oil production reaches its all time maximum, after which it never again attains that same level, and continues decrease forever.
Teacher Aaron Wissner explains how we know that peak oil will happen based on the simple fact that oil is a non-renewable, limited resource.
For the past three years, oil production seems to have gotten “stuck” at 84.5 million barrels per day. This is probably the cause of rising oil prices, gas prices, food prices, the decline in the value of homes, the dollar, and the domestic auto industry.
We may very well be now living in the era of peak oil.
Duration : 0:3:20
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